The Schizophrenia of Immigration

December 17, 2015
By
Attorney Pedro Miranda

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Having practiced in the immigration field for the relatively long period
of twenty seven years, first as an attorney with the government, then
as an immigration judge for eighteen years, and now as a private attorney,
I have often been asked by various people why it is that our country just
never seems to be able to get it right on immigration matters.

To me, the answer has always been simple, our country and our government
suffer from Schizophrenia on the issue of immigration.

In general use, Schizophrenia is a mentality or approach characterized
by inconsistent or contradictory elements. In relation to the issue of
immigration, this condition manifests itself in us, as individuals, as
a country, and as a government, when we, on the one hand, consider the
issue as an abstract matter, as in, "immigration is out of control
and we need to get a handle on it, we need to get rid of all these people
who are coming here to obtain benefits, take our jobs and commit crimes,"
but then recoil in horror when immigration agents show up at our neighbor's
door to pick her up for immigration violations, or our gardener or others
who we personally know and appreciate personally.

And so, rather than dealing with the subject rationally and effectively,
our government runs around in circles, politicians make grandiose speeches
an proclamations, and we keep changing the laws every couple of years
when, in fact, the problem has never been the law but, rather, the implementation
of the law.

It is understandable for individuals to be of two minds, Schizophrenic,
on an issue, but not our government or politicians. We pay them to make
the laws and see that they are fairly enforced. It's time that they
start doing that instead of grandstanding on the issue and playing with
people's lives.

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